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Passion For Peace: The Social Essays
This comprehensive volume contains Thomas Merton's principal writings on non-violence, war, and racism. Much of what he wrote between 1961 and 1968 is prophetic and speaks penetratingly to our time. Wars and rumors of war are still with us. Justice and love remain a dream. In most of these articles, it's as if Merton is actually writing in the 1990s. He is speaking to us - reminding us of the essential oneness that roots the equal dignity of all peoples.
Merton's writings on social issues flowed from a deep contemplative vision. Editor William Shannon puts each essay in context and reveals how this vision developed. We see a side of Merton's character that does not come through in his other his passion for peace and the ardor with which he pleaded for it in a world where people so desperately yearn for it. Passion for Peace is a book of testament, vision, and hope.
Merton's writings on social issues flowed from a deep contemplative vision. Editor William Shannon puts each essay in context and reveals how this vision developed. We see a side of Merton's character that does not come through in his other his passion for peace and the ardor with which he pleaded for it in a world where people so desperately yearn for it. Passion for Peace is a book of testament, vision, and hope.
338 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1995
5 people are currently reading
179 people want to read
About the author
Thomas Merton
580 books1,923 followersThomas Merton, religious name M. Louis, was an American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, mystic, poet, social activist and scholar of comparative religion. In December 1941 he entered the Trappist Abbey of Gethsemani and in May 1949 he was ordained to priesthood. He was a member of the convent of the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani, near Bardstown, Kentucky, living there from 1941 to his death.
Merton wrote more than 50 books in a period of 27 years, mostly on spirituality, social justice and a quiet pacifism, as well as scores of essays and reviews. Among Merton's most enduring works is his bestselling autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain (1948). His account of his spiritual journey inspired scores of World War II veterans, students, and teenagers to explore offerings of monasteries across the US. It is on National Review's list of the 100 best nonfiction books of the century.
Merton became a keen proponent of interfaith understanding, exploring Eastern religions through his study of mystic practice. His interfaith conversation, which preserved both Protestant and Catholic theological positions, helped to build mutual respect via their shared experiences at a period of heightened hostility. He is particularly known for having pioneered dialogue with prominent Asian spiritual figures, including the Dalai Lama XIV; Japanese writer D.T. Suzuki; Thai Buddhist monk Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, and Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh. He traveled extensively in the course of meeting with them and attending international conferences on religion. In addition, he wrote books on Zen Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism, and how Christianity is related to them. This was highly unusual at the time in the United States, particularly within the religious orders.
Merton wrote more than 50 books in a period of 27 years, mostly on spirituality, social justice and a quiet pacifism, as well as scores of essays and reviews. Among Merton's most enduring works is his bestselling autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain (1948). His account of his spiritual journey inspired scores of World War II veterans, students, and teenagers to explore offerings of monasteries across the US. It is on National Review's list of the 100 best nonfiction books of the century.
Merton became a keen proponent of interfaith understanding, exploring Eastern religions through his study of mystic practice. His interfaith conversation, which preserved both Protestant and Catholic theological positions, helped to build mutual respect via their shared experiences at a period of heightened hostility. He is particularly known for having pioneered dialogue with prominent Asian spiritual figures, including the Dalai Lama XIV; Japanese writer D.T. Suzuki; Thai Buddhist monk Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, and Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh. He traveled extensively in the course of meeting with them and attending international conferences on religion. In addition, he wrote books on Zen Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism, and how Christianity is related to them. This was highly unusual at the time in the United States, particularly within the religious orders.
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September 25, 2018
This little book is a concise summation of Trappist monk Thomas Merton’s social justice views. Merton, renowned for his contemplative lifestyle and his reflections on spirituality, was at the same time a perceptive social critic and prophet. His condemnation of nuclear proliferation, his advocacy for nonviolent resistance, and his repudiation of all forms of warfare were each the consequence of intense spiritual deliberation on his role as a monk in a depraved sociopolitical climate that ostensibly lost its capacity for moral reflection. One would hardly expect the sort of radical, revolutionary claims Merton asserts in this text from a contemplative monk of the Roman Catholic Church. Yet the fact that such moral exhortations come from a monk, and not, to use his term, from some extremist “crackpot” or even a political operative, forces one to take seriously his defiant Christian ethics. In an unprecedently partisan and violent political era, Merton’s voice is as essential as it has ever been.
In this collection of articles, many of which Merton wrote for major publications in coordination with other social-justice-oriented Catholics like Dorothy Day, Merton posits the notion that Christianity today, especially in Europe and North America, is a decadent and corrupt version of its former apostolic self, “satisfied with its riches” and complicit in many forms of evil. For instance, Merton finds it patently absurd that Christians blindly justify the political aims of countries such as the United States with Christian ethics, especially with respect to imperialism, nuclear proliferation, and uninhibited militarism. The idea that Christianity could ever warrant a worldwide nuclear holocaust, or that the so-called “Christian West can eliminate atheistic communism for all time and usher in the [new Christian] millennium” with a “first [nuclear] strike” strikes Merton as utterly preposterous, attitudes impossible for any Christian to defend with intellectual and spiritual honesty. Merton identifies two social ills that have contributed to such a contrived situation: “total passivity and irresponsibility on the moral level” and “demonic activism in social, military, and political life.” The first concerns a “submission to determinism which, in effect, leaves [humans] completely irresponsible.” A materialist view of life, Merton thinks, leads inexorably to a sense that individual persons and communities can do little to shift moral norms. The second concerns the extraordinary rate at which economic and military expansion and advancement take place, especially with respect to nuclear weapons. “Politics pretends to use this force as its servant, to harness it for social purposes” Merton writes, yet the evolution of the military-industrial complex has spun out of the control of any political leaders or nation-state. Merton therefore pleads that we must “slow down our activity,” i.e. the uncontrollable demonic activity, and once more take up moral responsibility for the potential destruction of humanity and of the earth: a terrible sin second only to the crucifixion of God.
Merton’s stance on nonviolent active resistance complements his attitude toward nuclear proliferation and war, and in this collection, it is in his essays on nonviolence where Merton is most persuasive. Merton published these articles at around the same time that SNCC and SCLC had effectively put nonviolent resistance methods to the test in the United States, and the success of their efforts underscores how seriously we should take Merton’s commitment to nonviolent civil disobedience. In one short article, he observes how efficacious the Danish nonviolent resistance to the Nazis was, specifically with respect to the latter’s efforts to exterminate European Jews. “[Denmark] was one of the only nations which offered explicit, formal, and successful nonviolent resistance to Nazi power,” Merton observes. “The resistance was successful because it was explicit and formal, and because it was practically unanimous.” For Merton, the success of the Danish resistance at once evokes hope and disquietude. On the one hand, it was remarkable because it was neither extensively planned nor coordinated; as a collective, citizens simply decided to do what they knew ethics demanded. On the other hand, Merton wonders why “a course of action which worked so simply and so well in Denmark [did] not occur to all the other so-called Christian nations of the West.” The Danes, he notes, were not even especially pious in their moral outlook: “it is not so much that the Danes were Christians as that they were human. How many others were even that?”
On this same note, Merton praises the leadership of Gandhi, who demonstrated to the world how practical nonviolent resistance can be, even in the face of vast power and authority. The important point for Merton, however, is not that Gandhi exhibited the practicality of nonviolence; instead, Merton stresses that for Gandhi, his spiritual ethics demanded nonviolence, and that this spiritual ethics was inextricably intertwined with Gandhi’s Hinduism and commitment to the lesson of the Gospels: “the radical difference between him and other leaders, even the most sincere and honest of them, becomes evident by the fact that Gandhi is chiefly concerned with truth and with service, svadharma, rather than with the possible success of his tactics upon other people,” Merton asserts. Whether or not nonviolent resistance is practical or not is beside the point; the point is, Christianity requires this type of action.
Merton’s insistence on nonviolence is not uncontroversial. Certainly, there are many Christian ethicists who dispute this stance on resistance to injustice—Reinhold Niebuhr comes to mind, for one. Even in this short volume, however, Merton lucidly justifies his radical position. In a chapter titled, “Blessed Are the Meek: The Christian Roots of Nonviolence,” he uses the beatitudes as a launch-point into a seven-part characterization of and justification for Christian nonviolence. Most importantly, he stresses that the need for nonviolence comes not from sentimentalism or even an open-minded humanism. To the contrary, a sophisticated metaphysics and existential realization offers the foundation upon which Merton’s conclusions rest. First, Merton clarifies the importance of salvation, which, for Merton, consists of “the full discovery of who [one] really is”; in other words, salvation is the realization that one is unified to all other persons in relation to God (in the words of Paul, “We are all members of one another”). When one comprehends how all persons are united, that human reality is at its core relational, then one sees that one must love all persons, just as God loves us. The basis of Christian nonviolence, then, “is faith in Christ the Redeemer and obedience to his demand to love and manifest himself in us by a certain manner of [action] in relation to other men,” a manner in which “we . . . help to transform others and allow ourselves to be transformed by and with others in Christ.” Violent resistance, however ostensibly defensible, is antithetical to this existential truth that Merton firmly posits. Violence stands at odds with the ultimate reconciliation of human persons, the objective for which we should aim in realization of our fundamental unity.
When it comes to the “conditions for relative honesty in the practice of Christian nonviolence”—in effect, recommendations for truly Christian nonviolence resistance—Merton offers seven points, alluded to earlier, which I think deserve brief discussion here. Christian nonviolence aims for the transformation of the present state of the world and thus must never collude with the unjust use of power; the Christian nonviolent resistor who is a citizen of one of the powerful nations or who is an oppressor by virtue or her race, class, sexuality, wealth, etc. must resist for the benefit of others, and not for herself; nonviolent protest must avoid pharisaic or holier-than-thou attitudes that “harden the warmakers”; nonviolent resistors must avoid the temptation to fetishize immediate visible results, and must thereby eschew “a superficial and quantitative idea of efficacy” in favor or “a more Christian and more humane notion of what is possible”—this requires humility; as per Christian nonviolence, the ends in no way justify the means—the manner in which nonviolent resistance is conducted will either “manifest or obscure the truth,” so that the means must in some way embody the ends; the nonviolent resistor must be prepared to learn from her adversary and to see in his stance the possibility of truth; and, finally, those who participate in nonviolent resistance must have hope, no matter how wicked the world seems to be—cynicism and despair will not win the day. This pellucid condensation of the principles of Christian nonviolence is extraordinarily comprehensive and useful. Christians committed to social justice would do well to internalize these principles and disseminate them in their own activist communities. They are, in my view, so true and necessary.
Clearly, then, there is so much more to this little book than meets the eye. Do not be fooled by the rather silly dove on the front cover; this text is far from a collection of well-worn moral aphorisms from a didactic Catholic thinker. Moreover, the scope of Merton’s essays, even the mere handful collected here, is vast. I have not even had a chance to praise Merton’s condemnation of the Vietnam War, his assessment of the horrors of the Shoah and the terrible truths it reveals, or his perceptive reflection on the systematic murder of Native Americans in the United States, expressed in the form of a book review. In these troubled times for the Catholic Church, when it seems that so many church officials deliberately turned a blind eye to abuse and injustice, Thomas Merton, at least, reminds me of the power of Catholic intellectualism in the service of love, justice, and peace. Catholics and social justice advocates would do well to read, or reread, Merton at this difficult ecclesiastical and political moment.
In this collection of articles, many of which Merton wrote for major publications in coordination with other social-justice-oriented Catholics like Dorothy Day, Merton posits the notion that Christianity today, especially in Europe and North America, is a decadent and corrupt version of its former apostolic self, “satisfied with its riches” and complicit in many forms of evil. For instance, Merton finds it patently absurd that Christians blindly justify the political aims of countries such as the United States with Christian ethics, especially with respect to imperialism, nuclear proliferation, and uninhibited militarism. The idea that Christianity could ever warrant a worldwide nuclear holocaust, or that the so-called “Christian West can eliminate atheistic communism for all time and usher in the [new Christian] millennium” with a “first [nuclear] strike” strikes Merton as utterly preposterous, attitudes impossible for any Christian to defend with intellectual and spiritual honesty. Merton identifies two social ills that have contributed to such a contrived situation: “total passivity and irresponsibility on the moral level” and “demonic activism in social, military, and political life.” The first concerns a “submission to determinism which, in effect, leaves [humans] completely irresponsible.” A materialist view of life, Merton thinks, leads inexorably to a sense that individual persons and communities can do little to shift moral norms. The second concerns the extraordinary rate at which economic and military expansion and advancement take place, especially with respect to nuclear weapons. “Politics pretends to use this force as its servant, to harness it for social purposes” Merton writes, yet the evolution of the military-industrial complex has spun out of the control of any political leaders or nation-state. Merton therefore pleads that we must “slow down our activity,” i.e. the uncontrollable demonic activity, and once more take up moral responsibility for the potential destruction of humanity and of the earth: a terrible sin second only to the crucifixion of God.
Merton’s stance on nonviolent active resistance complements his attitude toward nuclear proliferation and war, and in this collection, it is in his essays on nonviolence where Merton is most persuasive. Merton published these articles at around the same time that SNCC and SCLC had effectively put nonviolent resistance methods to the test in the United States, and the success of their efforts underscores how seriously we should take Merton’s commitment to nonviolent civil disobedience. In one short article, he observes how efficacious the Danish nonviolent resistance to the Nazis was, specifically with respect to the latter’s efforts to exterminate European Jews. “[Denmark] was one of the only nations which offered explicit, formal, and successful nonviolent resistance to Nazi power,” Merton observes. “The resistance was successful because it was explicit and formal, and because it was practically unanimous.” For Merton, the success of the Danish resistance at once evokes hope and disquietude. On the one hand, it was remarkable because it was neither extensively planned nor coordinated; as a collective, citizens simply decided to do what they knew ethics demanded. On the other hand, Merton wonders why “a course of action which worked so simply and so well in Denmark [did] not occur to all the other so-called Christian nations of the West.” The Danes, he notes, were not even especially pious in their moral outlook: “it is not so much that the Danes were Christians as that they were human. How many others were even that?”
On this same note, Merton praises the leadership of Gandhi, who demonstrated to the world how practical nonviolent resistance can be, even in the face of vast power and authority. The important point for Merton, however, is not that Gandhi exhibited the practicality of nonviolence; instead, Merton stresses that for Gandhi, his spiritual ethics demanded nonviolence, and that this spiritual ethics was inextricably intertwined with Gandhi’s Hinduism and commitment to the lesson of the Gospels: “the radical difference between him and other leaders, even the most sincere and honest of them, becomes evident by the fact that Gandhi is chiefly concerned with truth and with service, svadharma, rather than with the possible success of his tactics upon other people,” Merton asserts. Whether or not nonviolent resistance is practical or not is beside the point; the point is, Christianity requires this type of action.
Merton’s insistence on nonviolence is not uncontroversial. Certainly, there are many Christian ethicists who dispute this stance on resistance to injustice—Reinhold Niebuhr comes to mind, for one. Even in this short volume, however, Merton lucidly justifies his radical position. In a chapter titled, “Blessed Are the Meek: The Christian Roots of Nonviolence,” he uses the beatitudes as a launch-point into a seven-part characterization of and justification for Christian nonviolence. Most importantly, he stresses that the need for nonviolence comes not from sentimentalism or even an open-minded humanism. To the contrary, a sophisticated metaphysics and existential realization offers the foundation upon which Merton’s conclusions rest. First, Merton clarifies the importance of salvation, which, for Merton, consists of “the full discovery of who [one] really is”; in other words, salvation is the realization that one is unified to all other persons in relation to God (in the words of Paul, “We are all members of one another”). When one comprehends how all persons are united, that human reality is at its core relational, then one sees that one must love all persons, just as God loves us. The basis of Christian nonviolence, then, “is faith in Christ the Redeemer and obedience to his demand to love and manifest himself in us by a certain manner of [action] in relation to other men,” a manner in which “we . . . help to transform others and allow ourselves to be transformed by and with others in Christ.” Violent resistance, however ostensibly defensible, is antithetical to this existential truth that Merton firmly posits. Violence stands at odds with the ultimate reconciliation of human persons, the objective for which we should aim in realization of our fundamental unity.
When it comes to the “conditions for relative honesty in the practice of Christian nonviolence”—in effect, recommendations for truly Christian nonviolence resistance—Merton offers seven points, alluded to earlier, which I think deserve brief discussion here. Christian nonviolence aims for the transformation of the present state of the world and thus must never collude with the unjust use of power; the Christian nonviolent resistor who is a citizen of one of the powerful nations or who is an oppressor by virtue or her race, class, sexuality, wealth, etc. must resist for the benefit of others, and not for herself; nonviolent protest must avoid pharisaic or holier-than-thou attitudes that “harden the warmakers”; nonviolent resistors must avoid the temptation to fetishize immediate visible results, and must thereby eschew “a superficial and quantitative idea of efficacy” in favor or “a more Christian and more humane notion of what is possible”—this requires humility; as per Christian nonviolence, the ends in no way justify the means—the manner in which nonviolent resistance is conducted will either “manifest or obscure the truth,” so that the means must in some way embody the ends; the nonviolent resistor must be prepared to learn from her adversary and to see in his stance the possibility of truth; and, finally, those who participate in nonviolent resistance must have hope, no matter how wicked the world seems to be—cynicism and despair will not win the day. This pellucid condensation of the principles of Christian nonviolence is extraordinarily comprehensive and useful. Christians committed to social justice would do well to internalize these principles and disseminate them in their own activist communities. They are, in my view, so true and necessary.
Clearly, then, there is so much more to this little book than meets the eye. Do not be fooled by the rather silly dove on the front cover; this text is far from a collection of well-worn moral aphorisms from a didactic Catholic thinker. Moreover, the scope of Merton’s essays, even the mere handful collected here, is vast. I have not even had a chance to praise Merton’s condemnation of the Vietnam War, his assessment of the horrors of the Shoah and the terrible truths it reveals, or his perceptive reflection on the systematic murder of Native Americans in the United States, expressed in the form of a book review. In these troubled times for the Catholic Church, when it seems that so many church officials deliberately turned a blind eye to abuse and injustice, Thomas Merton, at least, reminds me of the power of Catholic intellectualism in the service of love, justice, and peace. Catholics and social justice advocates would do well to read, or reread, Merton at this difficult ecclesiastical and political moment.
February 11, 2016
4.5 stars: Christ said, "Blessed is the peacemaker," not, "blessed is the pacifist." This distinction demonstrates that the duty of a Christian is not merely to support efforts to make peace, but instead to actively endeavor to make peace within ourselves and with our enemies both personal and national. Merton patiently reminds us of imperatives laid out by Christ in His Sermon on the Mount and in the Golden Rule. Though ostensibly simple, these ideas are extremely difficult to actually embody in our day to day lives. He suggests that mindfulness is the way by which we can achieve these goals in all of our actions.
This book shares much overlap with Merton's Faith and Violence, but includes more of his writing on nuclear proliferation.
This book shares much overlap with Merton's Faith and Violence, but includes more of his writing on nuclear proliferation.
June 8, 2019
This book, written years ago was ahead of its time and gives many questions not only for Christians to really be challenged on, but for the US as a whole, in how we think of and deal with conflict. Christian responsibility is a real gap in today’s culture, and what Merton mentions identifies some of the biggest ones. Sadly, the concept of nonviolence and peace has been replaced by a culture of weapons and war, which Merton points out through history has often ended poorly.
January 3, 2022
Passion for Peace is a posthumous collection of Merton’s writings on peace and non-violence in the 1960’s. These were all published originally in places like the Catholic Worker or in collections of his letters. I had not read these reflections before. They were insightful into Merton’s positions against war, especially in the nuclear age, and the use of violence. I especially recommend his essay Blessed are the Meek: The Christian Roots of Non-violence.
October 31, 2017
Powerful, especially since I grew up in the 1960s, with its assassinations and brutal wars liberation and of containing communism. Merton writes of the awful banality of sane men doing unspeakable evil. This is a side of Merton that I knew existed but had not met.
The essays are as chilling apropos now as when they were written 50 years ago. Highly recommended.
The essays are as chilling apropos now as when they were written 50 years ago. Highly recommended.
November 30, 2020
3.5 really. Profound in parts, redundant in others (especially part 1 on the Cold War letters).
Must reads though are chapters 15, 19, and 20. The ideas here on race are depressingly still relevant and diagnostic of today as much as they were 60 years ago
In sum, a worthy application of non-violence to the issues plaguing one’s culture and time.
Must reads though are chapters 15, 19, and 20. The ideas here on race are depressingly still relevant and diagnostic of today as much as they were 60 years ago
In sum, a worthy application of non-violence to the issues plaguing one’s culture and time.
November 10, 2016
A series of letters and reflections written by Merton during his time. Very moving and reflective in thinking about today's issues.
January 29, 2019
I am so sad this man was taken from us so early. He was a brilliant thinker and advocate for peace, with true wisdom and no sentimentalism.
March 7, 2020
Good God almighty! Thomas Merton is a certified prophet. The struggles he was dealing with 60 years ago are rearing their heads again.
August 8, 2020
Radical peace. one which lies where it seems many have forsaken to turn toward in times of turmoil.
Pax tecum.
(‘Peace Perfect Peace’ by Edward H. Bickersteth, 1875).
Pax tecum.
(‘Peace Perfect Peace’ by Edward H. Bickersteth, 1875).
February 12, 2017
4.5 stars truly. Loses half a star because it starts very strong and fades in the last few essays. This is a book for our time. Merton is writing in 60's but with a very small imagination these words are timely and relevant. He challenges the church to be satisfied with nothing less that God's will being done on earth as it is in heaven, and provides ample evidence of the disastrous possibilities when the church does become satisfied; usually so satisfied with being on the 'right side' that violence and hatred being to appear godly. I wonder what Merton would have to say today?
May 10, 2013
I believe this collection of notes & reflections reveled the perfect dance of applied critical thinking to help the masses while at the same time, demonstrating consciously seeking the voiceless, oppressed, humanity soiled individual care for this person providing the light to ignite the process - navigated by spiritual integrity - the best course to comfort, restore value to each life by helping the individual divine willingness to start the work again of becoming a human.this book belongs in an Activist of Social Justice library, also good addition for anyone who may happen to care for the welfare of people and the creation of
July 13, 2012
A fantastic book that is not only relative for Christians today but a necessary read in our current political climate. Merton personally challenges all Christians on a wide range of topics. My favorites were the idea that the root of war is fear, and the topic of the Christian's responsibility during an age of nuclear/chemical/biological warfare.
June 25, 2007
Awesome. One day I'll make my pilgrimage to Abbey of Gethsemani and pay my respects to Fr. Louis.
January 16, 2009
Thomas Merton had the greatest influence on me during my collegiate years. His passion and ability to formulate such compelling arguments against the proliferation of arms is great.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews